Django Reinhardt gave the world a repertoire whose musical imprint found echoes on every continent. And every year in New York, the legendary jazz club in Manhattan known as Birdland is the venue for the Django Reinhardt Festival, the beating heart of Gypsy Jazz across the ocean. Considered by the Wall Street Journal as “The best jazz show in town!” the event draws fans like Leonardo di Caprio or George Benson, and now, thanks to Pat Philips and Ettore Stratta, the Festival’s historic enthusiast-producers, we have this record… Recorded live in New York by Jack Globenfelt, and in studio in Paris, this album features the genre’s unavoidable ambassadors—Dorado and Samson Schmitt, Ludovic Beier, Doudou Cuillerier, Francko Mehrstein, Pierre Blanchard et al—with Israeli saxophonist Anat Cohen as guest artist. Exchanging looks between the New and Old Worlds, this tasty album preserves the pure gypsy-jazz tradition in a contemporary context; this is global music. Augustin BONDOUX & Patrick FReMEAUX
